"Certain divine rays break out of the soul in adversity, like the sparks from the afflicted flint."
Thinking this was a fairly decent quote, I decided to do some research to find who it was from and once I learned it was from a Jesuit priest in the 1600's I knew at once that the quote most likely was initially written in Latin. My curiosity got the best of me and I started looking.
Eventually, I traced the original translation back to a Welsh poet named Henry Vaughan (1621-1695) who in his work Flores Solitudinis translated one of Nieremberg's essays which contains the quote into English. From Latin to English, the title of Nieremberg's essay is "On Temperance and Patience" and Vaughan's original translation of my quote from Latin to English is as follows...
"Certaine Divine Raies breake out of the Soul in adversity, like sparks of fire out of the afflicted flint."
I highlighted the original translation for Vaughan in the picture above.
After a bit more research I ended up finding the original Latin work written by Nieremberg, De Arte Voluntatis. The essay in question is in the appendix of his work and the essay's Latin title is Tolerantia, & temperantia rerum. The main Latin quote in question is highlighted above, I also zoomed in and singled out the quote to make it easier to read.
Now, here are my questions...
1) Is the Latin Phrase I singled out the correct phrase for the translated English quote? As in, does the Latin phrase I highlighted above translate into English as... "Certain divine rays break out of the soul in adversity, like the sparks from the afflicted flint." Using the very little Latin I know, along with their identical grammar structure (in regards to punctuation) I was able to narrow it down to that phrase (I know I'm in the right section too because the Greek in both the translated and original book is identical and in the same place).
2) If the phrase is correct, how would I "modernize" the Latin phrase (if modernize is the correct term for it)? More specifically, what I mean is how do I remove the archaic things like the "long s" (ſ ) and the "ae" (æ)? Is the accentuated e (é) an archaic term that I should change? I find it odd to see accentuated letters in Latin but maybe that's because I'm just not used to it. I already started to try "modernizing" the phrase below...
"Subsiliunt é plagis quaedam animo diuinae luces, velut scintillae é silice afflicto."
The accentuated e is really the only thing holding me up as far as "modernizing" it, besides that though that's it. Thanks for the consideration and Merry Christmas!
